The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1887-05-08
THE FINEST MILITARY
,ROAD In THE WORLD CON.
srRUsTED By RUSSIAN
Engineers Through the Caucus's
and Amid the widest and ~0t
Beautiful SCENERY IN that
Part Of the World.

The highway from Vladi- Kavkas
through the Caucasus was built by
the Gar in 1859, and it is said to be
the finest mountain road in the
world. 1t is so wide, says a writer in
H1rper's Magazine, that two post
wagons, drawn by four horses
abreast, can pass at full speed at any
place by day or night. The macad-
am roadbed is graded like railway,
and its surface is as hard as the
boulevard Of Paris. 1t was by this
celebrated military thoroughfare that
we entered the Darrell pass. The
horses dashed around bend in the
road and suddenly stopped before a
post station. These government
houses, which are well constructed
of cut stone, with sheet iron roofs
painted green, have been built from
eight to fifteen miles apart along the
entire route through the Caucasus.
Horses, wagons and drivers. are
changed at every station, unless the
traveller is fortunate enough to
own his vehicle; then only a change
Of horses and driver is neces-
sary. The toll for the transportation
is II cents a verst--a distance of
about two-thirds of a mile. Each
passenger is supposed to have a per-
init or way bill, from the government,
which he must show in addition to
his regular passport. This imperial
order for horses is supposed TO en-
able one to travel with little delay
but the postmasters along the route
always make it point to compel one
to wait as long as possible, aud, un-
less liberal fees are given, one may
be detained two or three days at a
station. We had travelled but ten
miles, yet the character OF the spring
less vehicle was such that we felt as
if we had been pounded by machin-
cry. An officer of the government
who was travelling with us ordered
fresh horses harnessed at once, and
in few moments their steel shoes
we're ringing on the road. The
scenery grew rapidly holder, and
mountains that seemed lofty but
half an hour before sank out
OF sight as we assembled the canyon.
In places the roadway was a
mere groove cut in the sides of APP
palling precipices, with the river
breaking into foam thousand feet
below, AS our horses galloped
around one of these buttresses a
mighty amphitheater opened directly
before us, on one side Of which a
little notch was seen midway be-
tween the river and the heavens. 1t
was the road. Looking across the
measureless abyss, we saw a caravan
of freight wagons toiling up this
channel chiseled in the side OF the
mountain. All the artillery wagons
and the great seige guns that thun-
dered against Kars and the heights
of Soubatan passed over this road.
More than 1000 vehicles were NOV
ing between Vladi- Kavkas and
Alexandropol. They stopped for
nothing but avalat ches and
dead horses; METER darkness or
storm delayed their progress.
Some were loaded with pow
der and shells, others carried
clothing and medical supplies. But
none Of the great wagons or swift
ly running post horses impeded us.
The magnificent mountain boulevard
over which we were travelling was
often broad enough for three teams
to pass. Sometimes, however, a line
of two wheeled Asiatic carts drawn
by bullocks refused to yield the Gus
tomary share of the road, and as the
postwagons swept by them the Tartar
drivers dashed the Arabs in the face
with their COssack whips, and ac-
companied the sting with epithets
and laughter. A solid and well laid
wall of masonry two or three feet
thick and three feet high prevents
careless Transfers from tumbling
into theriver half mile below,